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Show ( " Your Man rX i In Washington )f j Hy U.S. Senator Orrin G. Hatch Citrtvr Turns Off The Witter Hy now it is widely known that the President anil bis advisors have singled out l' water projects, pro-jects, including the Bonneville Bon-neville Unit of the Central Utah Project, for no funding fun-ding in 1()T1!. The Bonneville Bon-neville Unit was first identified iden-tified us o Missible budget ( lilting item by the Carter Transition Team. Subsequently, Subse-quently, President Carter's stuff did a second study of KM) water projects including the Bonneville Unit. Final funding cuts were based on three brond categories. They are: safety; safe-ty; environment; and cost-benefit ratio. The Bonneville Unit may not be funded because of some unidentified weakness in these ratings. Consider the "cutting categories" as applied to I he Central Utah Project: Safely: There is Utile Ut-ile reason to believe that a disaster of any consequence conse-quence would occur as a result of a failure in the Bonneville Unit. In addition, addi-tion, the Central Utah Project has an excellent safety record over its nearly near-ly 2.r vein's of construction. Environment: I be Environmental I liquid Statement for the Unit was tested in Federal District Court before Chief Judge Willis Killer mid was found to be satisfactory. I hill ruling was sent In the Tenth Citruil Court of Appeals, and upheld. The judicial process took six years and there have been no further court tests. C o s t - H e n e f i t Hatio: The cost-benefit ratio is reportedly very low for the Bonneville Unit, but the objective is so critical, it deserves a hearing. hear-ing. Water is being transKrted from n high valley collection point, across a mountain range, to the Salt Lake alley which is out of alternative water sources. ater in ' the Valley, in fact, is all but used up. In )', residents in the western Salt l ake Valley were within a few days of rationing, ra-tioning, but the Jordan Valley Water Purification Plant at the terminal end of the Central Utah Project Pro-ject averted the crisis. Without fanfare the plant pumped woter through the Jordan Aqueduct from Deer Creek Heservoir, purified it, and delivered it. That operation is now entering its fourth successful suc-cessful season, without interruption. in-terruption. But lacking completion of the delivery system which is the Bonneville Bon-neville Unit of the Central Utah Project, ihe Deer Creek Heservoir allocation will soon be depleted. And with that depletion Salt I -nkc alley residents will once again face rationings, with a major difference, no ('enlral Utah Project to save the day. |